This invention relates to apparatus and method for making flocked materials and, more particularly, to such apparatus and method for producing patterned flocked materials.
Flocked materials are often used for decorative purposes, such as for decorative wall coverings. These materials typically feature a backing material onto which fibers standing on end are attached adhesively. These erect fibers give the material a textured, velvety appearance. Such materials are typically made by first coating a backing material with an adhesive. Short fibers are then applied to the backing material. Of course, if the fibers were simply allowed to fall onto the backing material, they would have no preferred orientation. In fact, most them would lie on their side. In order that the fibers stand up on the backing material, it is known to envelop the backing material within an electrostatic field whose lines of force are substantially perpendicular to the backing material. Because of the field, as the fibers drop onto the backing material, they will align themselves with the field and so stick to the backing material oriented substantially perpendicularly to the backing material. After the fibers have been so deposited onto the backing material, the adhesive is caused to set as by passing the backing material with the attached fibers through an oven. This process thus results in a uniformly flocked material.
It is also known to create patterned flocked materials by putting adhesive on the backing material only where it is desired that the fibers stick. After the adhesive is laid out in the desired pattern, the fibers are applied to the backing material and the adhesive allowed to set. Thereafter, the excess fibers are removed since only those fibers in contact with the adhesive will stick to the backing material. The patterned flocked material produced in this way, however, is limited in complexity of design since the material either will have fibers or have no fibers at all. Thus, the patterns that can be achieved in this manner are rather simple, usually limited to simple geometric shapes.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an apparatus and method for reproducing complex patterns on a flocked material. It is a further object of this invention to provide such apparatus which is capable of producing patterns preserving a wide gray scale range of contrasts.